How do I find funders for a grassroots environment nonprofit?

Start with the funders most focused on grassroots environment organizations, currently Alabama Association of Resource Conservation and Development Councils, New Jersey Conservation Foundation, Conservative Energy Network. Donor-advised funds and mega-funds are excluded, so these are funders that genuinely back organizations your size, not pass-through accounts.

What counts as a grassroots organization here?

Size is the organization's median total revenue across its filings: grassroots (under $1M). Cause is where each grant is placed by its stated purpose and the recipient's mission, falling back to the recipient's IRS activity category where that is unclear.

How much grant money goes to grassroots environment organizations?

$4.1B reached 11,569 grassroots environment organizations from 16,028 funders. Money parked in the regranting layer is netted out.

How recent is this data?

It is read from IRS Form 990 and 990-PF e-file filings across recent fiscal years. US charity filings lag 12 to 24 months.

Causes · Environment · grassroots

Who funds grassroots environment organizations

The funders that back grassroots environment organizations are specialists, not generalists: Alabama Association of Resource Conservation and Development Councils gives them 180× the national rate, with 85% of its grants going here. These are the small organizations the big-institution funders usually miss, so the funders that show up here are the ones worth a small environment nonprofit's time.

$4.1B

granted

11,569

organizations

16,028

funders

The short version

16,028 funders gave $4.1B to 11,569 grassroots environment organizations (grassroots (under $1M)) across recent IRS filings.
The most focused funder is Alabama Association of Resource Conservation and Development Councils, giving 180× the national rate to grassroots environment organizations.
The largest non-DAF funder is National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, at $106M.
The grassroots environment organization drawing the most is Kohler Trust for Clean Water, at $54M.

Funders most focused on grassroots environment organizations

Not the biggest checks, the most committed: each gives this size and cause an outsized share of its budget against the national rate, shrunk toward that rate so a small specialist needs real volume to rank.

Alabama Association of Resource Conservation and Development Councils180×$36M · 85% of its giving New Jersey Conservation Foundation167.3×$13M · 88% of its giving Conservative Energy Network160.8×$12M · 86% of its giving Samuel P Pardoe Foundation158.2×$8M · 94% of its giving Kohler Foundation Inc157.1×$54M · 72% of its giving Marin Idea Fund149.7×$6M · 100% of its giving Advocates for Climate Innovation134.7×$22M · 64% of its giving Chautauqua Lake and Watershed Management Alliance Inc127.3×$4M · 90% of its giving

Largest funders by dollars

Real grantmakers giving the most to grassroots environment organizations (donor-advised and mega-funds excluded).

1National Fish and Wildlife Foundation$106M 2United States Energy Foundation$90M 3Windward Fund$81M 4Kohler Foundation Inc$54M 5The Nature Conservancy$49M 6The Conservation Fund a Nonprofit Corporation$36M 7Alabama Association of Resource Conservation and Development Councils$36M 8The Sherwood Foundation$31M

Grassroots environment organizations that draw the most

Sized by grant dollars received. Pick one to see exactly who funds it.

11,559 other grassroots environment organizations$3.9B

Questions and answers

How do I find funders for a grassroots environment nonprofit?: Start with the funders most focused on grassroots environment organizations, currently Alabama Association of Resource Conservation and Development Councils, New Jersey Conservation Foundation, Conservative Energy Network. Donor-advised funds and mega-funds are excluded, so these are funders that genuinely back organizations your size, not pass-through accounts.
What counts as a grassroots organization here?: Size is the organization's median total revenue across its filings: grassroots (under $1M). Cause is where each grant is placed by its stated purpose and the recipient's mission, falling back to the recipient's IRS activity category where that is unclear.
How much grant money goes to grassroots environment organizations?: $4.1B reached 11,569 grassroots environment organizations from 16,028 funders. Money parked in the regranting layer is netted out.
How recent is this data?: It is read from IRS Form 990 and 990-PF e-file filings across recent fiscal years. US charity filings lag 12 to 24 months.

More from the funding graph

The unnamed billions

grants reported with no recipient in the public record

The regranting layer

51% of grant dollars land in the regranting layer

The DAF merry-go-round

$9.7B circulates between donor-advised funds

The camps

funders cluster by geography, not ideology

By state

where grant money is based, and what stays home

State money flows

the interactive map of money crossing state lines

Size is median total revenue; each grant is placed by its stated purpose and the recipient's mission, falling back to the recipient's IRS activity category where that is unclear. Read from IRS Form 990 and 990-PF e-file XML across recent fiscal years, among (c)(3) funders and recipients resolved by EIN, with the regranting layer netted out. Source: IRS Form 990 downloads.